I went to Brookview to tell both my friends and my family about the love of my life. Even though my parents' reaction is still unclear, I feel fulfilled knowing my friends support me. I felt sad saying goodbye to them but I promised to see them on Christmas break. To my surprise, Becca and Jenny went with us to the airport and met Shawn for the first time as my boyfriend instead of my teacher. It was actually really nice.

    The moment we landed in New York I was reminded of my new life here. One where secrets are still alive unlike back home. I try not to focus on it as we head back to Shawn's apartment. He holds my hand the entire way there, rubbing my thumb in a comforting gesture. It makes me feel like he knows exactly what's been on my mind. Perhaps he does.

    We step inside the apartment and drop our bags immediately. The apartment is smaller than his house but I love it just the same. "What are your plans for today?" I ask Shawn.

    He looks at the watch on his wrist before answering. "I have some prepping to do for classes this week. I should get started actually."

    As much as I'd love to stay and watch him get to work, I have something else I should do today. "I should get back to my dorm and let Katie know how things went." I grab my bag from the floor and grab the door handle.

    Shawn's words stop me from turning it. "Are you doing okay?"

    I look at him over my shoulder. "Actually I feel better than I have in a long time. I'll see you in class, Mr. Morgan." I offer him a wink before opening the door and leaving. Thankfully I parked my car here and rode with him to the airport.

    The ride back to my dorm is short with surprisingly little traffic. The weather is much colder here so I had to rush to my room where the heat would be on. "Hey Katie." I say as I walk in. I throw my bag on my bed and grab the nearest blanket to wrap around myself. Then I turn to see Katie sitting at the edge of her bed with tears pooling in her eyes. "Oh Katie, are you okay? What's wrong?" I move to sit beside her on the bed.

    She sniffles and hiccups. "Yeah, I'll be okay. It's just that my dad and I got into a huge fight."

    "On Thanksgiving?"

    She nods. I know the feeling. "I just tried to talk to him on the phone and work things out but-" Katie cuts herself off, crying at the mere thought of the argument. I lift my hand up to rub her back. "God, I'm a mess."

    I offer my friend a smile. "It's okay, what was the fight about?" Hopefully she doesn't mind me asking.

    Katie wipes her face and then turns to look at me. "He was just trying to make me feel guilty throughout the whole dinner about how I'm never home. Then he tried to get me to move out of the dorms and move back home. It was ridiculous."

    "That was a big ask of him. You don't need to put your life on hold for anyone, Katie. You're in college, all you need to focus on is you and your future." I've never met her dad, but from what I've gathered, he's strict and controlling.

    "I tried to explain to him that I'm an adult now but he's acting crazy. We used to fight all the time my senior year. It's like the closer I got to moving out of the house and going to college, the more controlling he got. It took all I had to make it here to the dorms." Her story seems eerily similar to mine. The only difference is her father didn't want to lose his only child. It doesn't matter though, it doesn't excuse his actions. Katie shrugs, "I guess I just figured that once I was actually moved out things would be different."

    My hand on her back comes to a halt. Instead I wrap my arm around her and pull her in for a hug. It surprises her but she hugs me back. Her father is the only family she has left in New York. If he can't see that she's an adult now then that's on him. "None of this is your fault." I promise her.

     We stay like that for a while. She continues to cry until she seemingly runs out of tears. Or maybe Katie realized that she shouldn't be mad over someone who likes to control change. Eventually, we pull away from each other. Katie wipes her tear stained cheeks and meets my eyes. "Enough about me, how did your parents take the news?"

    I think back to the fight I had with them and then my mother up and leaving. "Honestly, I'm not sure." I can tell Katie wants to take her mind off of her troubles, so I elaborate about my parents' initial reaction, and about my mother's the next day. Then I talk about my friends and how they all managed to forgive my distance towards them.

Before we know it, it's dark outside and we just decide to take a load off before classes in the morning. So we spend the rest of the night watching cheesy rom-coms. It takes both of our minds off of the drama that is our lives. Shawn texts me goodnight and I'm happy that I don't have to turn the phone over or hide it from anyone I care about. Not anymore.

The next day after classes, I meet up with Hunter at the diner. He looks happy, and I know it's because of Seth. "So what's with the secrecy?" Hunter asks as he gets comfortable in the booth. His question is aimed at the fact I didn't want Seth to come.

I lean in, "I told everyone about Shawn and I."

He raises an eyebrow, "Who is everyone exactly?"

I lift up my hand and begin counting people on my fingers. "Mom, dad, Jenny, Jake, Becca, and Luke."

"So everyone." I nod. He takes a second, seemingly unsure of what to think of the matter. Hunter surprises me with a smile. "Thank God." I give him a confused look so that he'll elaborate. "I am so sick of not being able to talk to anyone about the delicious tea that is your relationship." Then Hunter pauses. "Wait, what about Seth?"

I shrug, "I guess I just haven't gotten around to him yet. It's not on purpose." I lie. The truth is he doesn't know anything about me. If I tell him about Shawn then I have to explain to him how I explained to everyone else. That we connected through what happened to me. That Shawn was my knight in shining armor and so far he's been the only one that hasn't looked at me with pitiful eyes.

If I had it my way, he'd never find out. Then again he's my friend, and just like with Becca and Jenny, it's not fair to lie to him. "That's fine, I'm sure he'll understand." Hunter shrugs as if it's no big deal.

I try to play off my insecurities and doubts. "Just don't tell him, let me."

"Okay, when?"

I internally sigh. "I'll find a time. I promise." This time it's not a lie. He deserves to know just like everyone else that's close to me. Maybe even more so for not pushing me last year. "Enough about me, how was meeting Seth's family?"

Hunter's smile is up and full force. I guess it went well.

    Shawn's P.O.V.

    After classes I pack my stuff up and head back home. I like to finish up my work for the day in my home office. Besides, I'm hoping Livia will want to come over tonight. Call me clingy, but I can never wait to see her. I don't know what she does to me.

    When I get to Dianne's building, I almost walk past the receptionist but he stops me. "Mr. Morgan, there's someone waiting for you."

    I look around the lobby, not finding anyone I recognize. "Where?" He points to his left, on the other side of that wall are the offices but also a small coffee bar. I make my way around the corner so that I can see who it is. The only person at the coffee bar is none other than Katherine Dyer. I make my way to her. "This better be good." I say.

    "You're mad, I get that."

    I feign confusion as I sit on the stool beside her. "Mad? What could I possibly be mad about? Maybe you trying to get into Livia's head her first week here? Or telling another professor that I've had a relationship with not one, but two of my students?" Honestly I'm surprised she's even here. Considering I haven't seen her since school started.

    Katherine puts her hands up, "Look, I was pissed off at your girlfriend. Frankly I'm pissed off at you too. I came to NYU to get away from you two." Her arms fall on her lap.

    I decide to change the subject. "What are you doing here now?"

    Katherine looks away for a moment, as if to think about her next words. "I just thought you should know that I'm transferring after this semester."

    "You're-what?"

    "I want to be back home with Matthew and I can't do that in New York. Besides, I'm hoping you guys won't follow me this time." I ignore that last part and wait for her to continue. "I tried to start over here but this isn't where I belong." A small chuckle escapes her lips. "I even told Livia to hide the fact that I have a son from my friends. How fucked up is that?"

    There's something I've never seen before in her eyes. Like perhaps there's something more to why she's going back. Maybe I'm just mistaking sadness for something else. "Why are you telling me?"

    "I'm not sure exactly. You used to be an important part of my life. Well, at least Kevin was." Katherine looks down at her coffee, seemingly to let her words soak in. I understand what she means though. As much as I hate to admit it, we used to confide in each other. Now I'm different, now the only person I want to confide in is Livia. Instead of Kat and Kevin, it's Livia and Shawn. We're just not who we used to be.

    Her sadness is a bit off putting so I try to make her feel better about our past. It was wrong of her to end things the way she did but, it wasn't always so bad. "Hey, do you remember when we were moving you into my apartment?"

Katherine's eyes light up at the memory, "Yeah, you barely had any furniture and I had to decorate everything. I hope you've gotten better since then."

I nod, "I remember that night, you were freaking out because I didn't even own a TV."

She begins to laugh. "Of course I freaked out! The Bachelor was on and I was going to miss the season finale."

"So I went out and got you a TV and you made me sit with you and watch the stupid Bachelor show."

"Then the unexpected happened and you got into it. We never missed an episode after that." I ended up letting her keep that TV, I knew she would get more use out of it than me. Katherine grabs my hand, "Thanks, for making me feel better." Despite everything she's put me through, I hug her. It catches her off guard but she's quick to wrap her arms around me.

"Just promise me one thing." I whisper in her ear. "Promise me that when you get Matthew back, you'll stay clean." His childhood can't be like mine, even if he's not my son. There was a point where he almost was, biological or not.

Katherine pulls away and wipes the tears away. I didn't mean to make her cry. "For Matthew." She clears her throat. "I'll be leaving in a couple of weeks, right after the semester ends for winter break."

She's telling me this because we most-likely won't see each other again after this. Then again, I've said that before. Still, I can't help but feel like this time is different. Like it really is goodbye for good. "Have a good Christmas, Kat."

Katherine smiles as she grabs her purse and then turns to me. She places her small hand on my face, as if to remember me. "You too, Mr. Morgan." Then she drops her hand and walks past me to leave. I don't know what happened to us these past two and a half years, but I'm glad she found herself. I'm glad we can both move on and I hope she's happy.